Ecotourism, Virtual Museums and Real Decisions

Get Out the Going Out Guide
Art, Health, Journalism, Social Science, Science

Ask students about their outside activities. Is their time spent taking walks, visiting parks and gardens or playing? Do they join a pod for outdoor gatherings or spend family times discovering new plants and animals — observing, taking photographs or drawing? Where do they learn about D.C.-Area current activities that can be done at a safe distance?

Give students Where to Find D.C. Area Activities and Travel Advice. Use the print, e-Replica and online editions to locate each of these Washington Post resources. The three suggested activities could be done individually or in groups.

Why Do We Need Museums?
Art, Broadcast Journalism, Business, Career Education, Economy, Science, Technology, Visual Arts

Museums are small, local attractions or major international destinations like the two million square feet of space and hundreds of galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A museum dedicated to farm implements and crops of a region may get 100 visitors a week; a museum that covers centuries of art, culture and civilizations may welcome an average of 1,000 visitors per hour.

Have your students been to a museum or zoo? When, where and which kind? What kind of museum is most appealing to students? Art, history, science, anthropology, technology? Interactive or with artifacts? With docents leading groups or free to explore independently? Museums are thinking about this generation and their future.

According to the American Alliance of Museums, museums support 726,000 jobs across the country and contribute $50 billion to the economy each year. When visitors are barred from entry, museums face financial and ethical dilemmas. If students ran a museum, how would they handle the current situation?

• Would they be cleaning, and perhaps moving, exhibits? Can this be done while maintaining a safe distance between workers?

• Who would be considered essential to maintain the facility and exhibits?

• How will they fund feeding and care of animals without admission fees?

• Of the U.S. institutions planning to reopen, about 40 percent will do so with reduced staff, an AAM survey found. Who would they release during the shut-down? Who would need to be rehired?

• Why do we value museums?

Discover Virtual Museums
Art, Broadcast Journalism, Business, Economy, Science, Technology, Visual Arts

Art, anthropology, science and technology are all available in online museum offerings. Take a tour of the British Natural History Museum with Sir. David Attenborough, join online events and exhibits at the Victoria and Albert Museum and participate in family interactives at the National Gallery of Art in D.C. to experience the diversity.

Give students Explore Museums Online. Five suggested activities introduce different approaches that can be taken to engage online visitors. Students might also work in pairs to explore the listed museums and prepare a guided tour to introduce their classmates to some inviting works and features.

Practice Seeing
Art, Visual Arts

As museums and galleries look to post-pandemic life, they are brainstorming ways to engage the next generation — both online and in person. Listen to Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge Come to Life. What do students think of the audio tour to learn about an artist and his work?

Students may continue with audio tours of “The Sights and Sounds of Seurat” and “Tune In to Boccioni’s Futuristic Frontier.” These are very different schools of art. Note that the voice-over does more than read the printed text. After discussion of each work, students may write additional commentary in this brief pairing of art and textual information.

Students may be assigned a project to create an audio tour for a work of art — either a well-known work, that of a favorite artist or one of their own creations. This could be a team effort with each member writing text, selecting visual and preparing the PowerPoint or other program for presentation.

Review an Exhibit
Art, English, Journalism, Visual Arts

Practice Seeing activity may be used as a step toward writing a longer review of an exhibit or work of art. Likewise, #3 of Where to Find D.C. Area Activities and Travel Advice is based on the beginning of a review of the math-based sculptures of Anton Bakker.

Read and discuss with students “Miss visiting museums? Engaging with art on a small phone screen can actually be rewarding.” This review of four exhibitions, tour of the Great Hall and the virtual interactions with works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It is also a review of the limits and benefits of visit by cellphone.

Students may be asked to visit and write a review of an online exhibit. With students establish the requirements of the review.

Hike, Bike, Walk?
Business, Health, Journalism, Social Studies

Sales of bicycles have surged in 2020. Some families have dusted off old bicycles or found hiking gear. Even they have helped parts of the health industry grow.

• Have your students been more involved in hiking, biking or walking activities?

• What do they know about peddle bikes and e-bikes?

Read and discuss “Camping is back, with fewer people and activities and more cleaning and waiting.”

Discuss other businesses that could benefit from this outdoor activity trend.

Teachers may share the Post Travel article, “ Sales of camping, hiking guides rise as Americans take to the outdoors.”  Read and discuss the February 2021 “More biking, fewer trains: Survey examines the pandemic’s effects on mobility in the D.C. region.” Questions would include:

• What percent of your students would prefer to continue distance learning? A mix of in-school and at-home learning? Total return to the classroom at school?

• How do your students commute to school? Do they plan to continue the same transportation mode?

• To what extent do your families reflect the findings of the survey regarding transportation?

Contrast Walks on a Michigan Lakeshore
English, Journalism, Photojournalism, Reading

“In a lost year, a new lens on life” encourages observation skills while walking with a camera. Compare and contrast the online Travel photo essay with the print essay of the same title in the print March 14, 2021, Travel section, using the e-Replica format.

Discussion could include

• Text and perspective that are the same

• Details that enhance or contribute to understanding the photographs

• Effect on tone and mood of the legend of the origin of Sleeping Bear

Be Ethical
Career Education, Ethics, Journalism, Media Arts

The code of ethics of professional journalists requires that they be fair and unbiased in their reporting. This usually means reporters and photojournalists do not cover businesses and events in which they have personal involvement. An example of a reporter failing to be transparent and fully disclosing involvements is found in Paul Farhi’s March 4, 2021, beat article, “David Brooks of New York Times criticized for undisclosed financial ties to project he praised.”

Farhi begins:

The tenets of journalism hold that writers aren’t supposed to have a vested interest in the topics they cover — but that if they do, they need to disclose it to the public.

David Brooks appears to have fallen short of those principles. The veteran New York Times opinion columnist didn’t mention to his readers that he has had a side gig writing for a project funded by Facebook and other donors. Brooks has written favorably about the project, and about Facebook, without disclosing his personal financial connection.

• Ask students why journalists should disclose any vested interests in topics they cover or not cover them at all?

• Does the same principle apply to a newspaper, yearbook or student media reporter who plays a school or club sport? Should they write the stories about those activities?

Think Like a Reporter
Ethics, Journalism, Media Arts, Research

On March 3, 2021, The Post gave readers an update in “National Gallery, Smithsonian take slower approach to reopening, while some D.C. museums start welcoming visitors back.” Discuss the content. For whom would these be relevant? Why would media provide updates?

Give students Think Like a Reporter | Update Your Readers. Read and cover the guidelines given for updating a story. Three informative articles are provided for students to apply the guidelines. They are given suggested steps to take in order to update each of the three. This may be done individually or in groups, completing one update each or all three.

• June 11, 2020: “Appalachian Trail reopens to day-trippers but urges thru-hikers to stay home

• June 5, 2020: “Camping is back, with fewer people and activities and more cleaning and waiting”

• May 18, 2017: “What is ‘green travel,’ anyway? A beginner’s guide to eco-friendly vacation planning.” Teachers will find that “Partnering to help travelers go greener” is an update of the 2017 article. If you have limited time, you might have students read the 2017 article, discuss the steps to update it, and then read this March 7, 2021, article to see how well it updates the original article.

Explore Green Places Online
Business, Economics, Environmental Science, Journalism, Technology

For background information, teachers could begin with reading “What is ‘green travel,’ anyway? A beginner’s guide to eco-friendly vacation planning.”

To introduce concepts of sustainable and ecotourism, students could become familiar with the following four green destinations as well as the content and technology used to present information about them. Locate each country on a map. See who can be first to use the website to find what qualifies each to be a top green destination.

• Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

• I FEEL SLOVEnia

• ≠KHOADI-//HÔAS CONSERVANCY, Namibia

• Maramures, Romania — one of National Geographic’s top ecotourism destinations

Teachers may move to the next activity to define sustainable communities and ecotourism goals.

What Does it Take to Be a Sustainable Community?
Biology, Botany, Business, Economy, Environmental Science, Government, Social Studies

The Sustainable Communities Program (SCP) is an “international, science-based, third-party certification program that guides communities through a customized journey to become healthy and vibrant places in which to live, work, and play. That vision is founded in the three pillars of sustainability: a healthy local environment, quality of life for citizens, and economic vitality.”

• Compare and contrast the standards and guidelines for sustainability and ecotourism certified.

• Are sustainable communities the same as certified ecotourism communities and places?

Learn Ecotourism Standards
Business, Economics, Environmental Science, Ethics, Geography, Government

Review the International Ecotourism Society standards that must be met to be certified. Discuss with students why having and enforcing such standards are important for all stakeholders. Who are the stakeholders?

• Minimize physical, social, behavioral, and psychological impacts.
• Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
• Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
• Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
• Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
• Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental, and social climates.
• Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
• Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the Indigenous People in your community and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.

 What Is the Balance in Ecotourism?
Biology, Business, Economics, Environmental Science, Geography

In a KidsPost article (“Jaguar release is a step to saving the species in Argentina”) and

Post Travel article (“Halt in ecotourism threatens conservation efforts worldwide”) international actions and concerns about animals are covered. Find the countries on the map and discuss what students know about these habitats. Questions for discussion are included with the KidsPost article.

• In what ways do conservation parks and reserves meet the standards of sustainable communities?

• What are the benefits of ecotourism?

• What requirements of ecotourism may require special attention in order to do no or little harm?

• How have ecotourism businesses met the challenges of the pandemic?

Battle to Maintain Eco-tourism Standards
Biology, Business, Economics, Environmental Science, Geography, Government

Teachers may introduce students to South America’s largest country — Brazil.

It has natural beauty and resources, indigenous people and pristine rainforests, a government that supports business interests. Its tourism potential and ecotourism success confront each other.

Give students Green Future or Economic Paradise? Activity. It is introduced through the village of Alter Do Chao, Brazil. Read and discuss the opening paragraphs of The Post’s “ They say they’re firefighters. Police say they’re arsonists. The battle for truth reaches the Amazon.” For additional background, students could be asked to read the entire article and discuss the economic, environmental and political story.

Continue with the activity. The longer article is divided into sections with questions that are focused on content and the author’s structure/organizational plan for conveying the challenges and confrontations in Fernando de Noronha. This should provide effective practice in close reading and a model for the comparison/contrast organizational strategy.

Post NIE Guide Editor | Carol Lange

Post NIE Guide Art Editor | Donna McCullough